February 2025 Ten Ten Resources Parent Newsletter

The dark mornings and evenings are still with us as we celebrate Candlemas, the feast of The Presentation of the Lord, on 2nd February. This feast day marks the official end of the Christmas season in the Catholic Church and reminds us again that Jesus is the light who came into the world to save us.

Throughout February, children will consider how Jesus, Light of the World, invites us to follow Him and leads us to joy, peace and truth.

This newsletter shares some of the content children will experience in school throughout February and suggests ways for you to engage with them about it. We hope it is a useful resource for your family prayer time.

I Have Seen The Promise

The Assembly for the first week of February celebrates the Presentation of the Lord, when Jesus was taken to the Temple as a baby to be presented to God - a religious tradition and duty for all Jews.

The Gospel story of this event is told through a drama with Simeon and Anna reflecting on the amazing day when they saw Jesus and through eyes of faith, recognised Him as the promised Saviour. Children will come to know that they too can see Jesus with eyes of faith as the Light of the World - the light that leads us to joy, peace and truth.

With your child, you might like to…

  • Light a candle in a darkened room or turn on a lamp or torch and ask your child to describe how light changes the look and feel of their surroundings. Talk about the title for Jesus - the ‘Light of the World’ and explain that Jesus guides us with His loving light.
  • Talk about ways they can shine Jesus’ loving light in the world through their words and actions.

THE HOLY FAMILY

Special occasions often draw families together and Jesus’ family were no different. Mary, Joseph and Jesus went to the Temple together for the special event of Jesus’ presentation and we can be inspired by this example of togetherness. In fact, the month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family.

You might like to take this opportunity to honour the Holy Family by…

  • Spending quality time with your own loved ones, perhaps by going to Mass, eating together, playing a game or going on a family outing.
  • Perhaps you could pray together, including prayers of thanks and appreciation for each other and also pray for families who can't be together due to distance, illness or conflict.

TRUST IN THE LORD

The Gospel for the week beginning 10th February shows Simon Peter taking a leap of faith. After fishing all night and without catching anything, Jesus asked him to cast his nets once again. Simon Peter trusted Jesus and did just that and they caught so many fish that other fishermen had to come to help!

Inspired by Simon Peter, who showed us how to trust in the Lord – even when we don’t fully understand, this week’s prayers reflect on encouraging messages from the Scriptures which help us to trust and follow Jesus, just like the first disciples.

As part of their prayers, children will use Sign Language to help them learn verses from the Scriptures.

Perhaps you’d like to learn this Scripture verse together ‘Trust in The Lord with all your heart’ (Proverbs 3:5).

After, you might like to use this prayer to finish:

Jesus,

We want to follow you, just like the first disciples.

Give us strength to be like Simon Peter and trust you with all our heart so that we grow closer to you.

Amen

Credits:

Created with images by muratart - "Planet Earth with a spectacular sunset. ."Elements of this image furnished by NASA"" • fotoyou - "Wooden Stable at Dark Blue Starry Night, Jesus Christ Birth Concept" • Tomasz Zajda - "Mountain Sunset Landscape"